The Dallas-Fort Worth area is home to loads of great sports teams. You’ve got the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, the Dallas Mavericks in downtown Dallas, and there are tons of fantastic minor league baseball teams throughout the region. Of course, Cowboys Stadium hosts other fantastic events, like the NCAA Final Four basketball tourney, as well as the Cotton Bowl. Some musicians even play gigs at Cowboys Stadium, too!

Six Flags Over Texas is close, too. So imagine your summers spent watching the Texas Rangers make another run for the World Series and riding roller coasters or going to Hurricane Harbor to beat the heat!

So if you want to be close to where the sports action is, perhaps it’s time to buy a townhome or condo in Arlington. New developments are popping up all along the perimeter of the Ballpark and Cowboys Stadium, so get there first to get great deals!

Here are a few new and like-new options that are close to your No. 1 team!

It was about this time last year — well, February 2011 — that Sean Payton got everyone all flustered thinking he was maybe trying to get closer to Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. Well, of course he wasn’t. He had other fish to fry. But Payton and his family did move to the uber exclusive Vaquero Club in Westake. As in the number one home to many PGA golfers, current and former Texas Rangers players and other celebrities. Payton, his wife Beth and kiddos hunkered down in the 8,554 square foot house owned by former Texas Rangers and current New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira. Built in 2005, the house has been on the market since April 2009 with an original list price of $5,750,000.

Just so happens Teixeira’s pad is on the market again, just went on, in fact, Tuesday March 6 at a reduced price of $3,995,000. Wowzers. That’s almost TWO MILLION less than what Tex wanted back in 2009! Which is why we are thinking, geeze, maybe Sean’s heading back to NOLA to keep his team in line.

As for 2220 King Fisher, what a great deal for a great house! You get a rare 1.078 acre waterfront lot at gated, secure Vaquero (HOA dies $1950 twice a year), great traffic flow, spacious covered patio that unites the living room, keeping room (where he should have put SOME PEOPLE in time out) and media room. The Master is totally out of control. It connects to the spa patio and then the wowzers master bath connects to a private Zen patio. The pool has two gas pots, and a separate patio around a large fire pit. There is a huge game room with bar and two-level office, a media room, five bedrooms, four and a half baths, 4 car garage on 1.078 of God’s green acres: what a steal!

If you are looking for a 9,000 square foot plus second home in Texas that is a hop, skip and jump from D/FW with the added plus of no state income taxes, well, thank DeMarcus Ware. The Dallas Cowboys linebacker just plopped his home, Castleton Manor at 6900 Rockingham Court, on the market with a price tag of $2.198 milion. From the looks of it, Ware wants to move on up from Colleyville to fancier digs.

And why not? He’s the highest-paid, high-performing Dallas Cowboy ever, with a six-year, $78 million contract extension that has a $40 million guarantee. Life is good, but apparently not good enough in Colleyville. I would guess the All-Pro defensive end is eyeing larger digs in the Big D, possibly Strait Lane or Vaquero. He’s also one of the few in town who might could swing ownership of Champs D’Or, now reduced to $35 million!

The Rockingham Court mansion is on a cul de sac in a private gated community. Built in 2008, the 9300 plus square foot manse boasts six bedrooms, and seven and a half bathrooms, custom everything plus all the extra rooms one expects in these homes: four living areas, numerous bonus rooms, a wine porch — PORCH! — for heaven sakes with a suspended bed overlooking the pool, seven fireplaces, a theater room and, of course a loaded chef’s dream kitchen. TVs are everywhere, I think I counted 15, and remain with the home. The spread is on an acre and of course has all the outdoor living doo-dah plus: cushioned turf play area, ground level trampoline, private putting green, outdoor pavilion, and pool with a raised spa. Is there an outdoor kitchen? You bet your bootie. And several porch areas. About the master: it’s to-die for, with a master suite and tricked-out spa bath. Oh yes, we must not forget the guest house loaded with the same level of finish out in the home.

Well. In light of the way the Cowboys TROUNCED the Redskins yesterday, my good friends over at Curbed Washington, D.C. have graciously posted some Dallas Cowboys real estate news (along with some Redskins pads, gotta be loyal) because they know that not only is our team WAY better than the ‘Skins, so is our dirt!

I digress: do you know there is a large house in Preston Hollow that purportedly has a stripper pole in the Master bedroom? Anyone who can get me photos of that gets $100. Hint: the house has fake grass.

Well, Chris, only if you bought in 2007 in D.C. Should you decide to sell, we’ll ask Jerry Jones to send a Dallas designer right to your front door to do something about that leather counch and, er, coffee table!

A little different from his Highland Park real estate, here is where Troy hangs in Coppell. Close to Cowboys Stadium and D/FW. Built in 1994, this 4134 story home has four bedrooms, four and a half baths, an attached garage and sets him back $17, 923.28 in taxes.

To Maplewood, it seems. The Garretts apparently have a contract on a glorious circa 1999 Euro-villa with smooth-as-a-baby’s-butt limestone exteriors, large living and entertaining areas, wide wood planked floors, 11 foot ceilings down, gourmet kitchen with two of just about everything, breakfast room, den, loggia, pool, study, four bedrooms, four and a half baths, 6900 plus square feet, study, sitting room, two bedroom, two bath apartment over the 3 car rear garage, and yes, four fireplaces. Not really pricey, either: listed for $3,795,000.

What is it about guys, football and fireplaces?

Anyhow, the kids can walk to Armstrong. No word yet on any sales over on Lindenwood, which is a great house, so stay tuned.

Hopefully, he’s not going anywhere, maybe just closer to Cowboys Stadium? Jason Garrett just put his gorgeous Highland Park home on the market late Friday with none other than broker to the rich and famous Allie Beth Allman listing it. Asking: $1,950,000. The Ivy Leaguer (Princeton, Columbia) just got named head Cowboys coach January 6, the 8th head hocho in Cowboys history.

The traditional home is on Lindenwood, east of Byron, on a 50 by 150 lot so typical of the choice Highland Park area. It’s more than 4,000 square feet and offers the lucky buyer four bedrooms, four and a half baths, three stories, and pool. (If those walls could talk…) New-ish construction, too: the home was built in 1999 and likely updated.

On November 8, 2010, Garrett was named as the Dallas Cowboys’ interim head coach following the firing of Wade Phillips. On November 14, 2010, Garrett won his first game as Cowboys head coach, beating the favored New York Giants 33-20 in the Meadowlands. Then he led the Cowboys to a 35-19 victory, their first home win all season.

Allie Beth is also listing the Wade Phillips home over on Norway abutting St. Mark’s, listed for over three million. Thank God for these coaching revolutions — keeps our market and Allie Beth hopping! Garrett bought Lindenwood in April of 2007, gosh four years ago, and paid about $1.9.

We all know that, when it comes to marketing, the world has changed. And when it comes to marketing real estate, we may as well be on a different planet. No longer are cute cards and glossy brochures and, some might add, print advertising in pretty magazines and newspapers, enough. You’ve got to go viral, go FaceBook, go Hollywood.

Which is why Chris Bright, son of the Texas Bright dynasty built on oil, football and banking, probably thought there was noting wrong with spending a million dollars to make a 60 minute, family-focused major movie about Bright’s 2,500-acre Castle Hills development north of Dallas near Denton. Remember, Chris’ dad, H.R. “Bum” Bright, owned the Dallas Cowboys from 1984 until selling the team to current owner Jerry Jones in 1989.

The movie was shot entirely in the neighborhoods, parks, shopping centers and golf courses of Castle Hills, and even used some resident kids and homeowners in large scenes. Produced by Ditore Mayo Entertainment, the film will debut Saturday April 2 at NorthPark Center mall as part of the Dallas International Film Festival. After its debut, it will stream everywhere on the development’s website. And then, baby, it’s viral!

How can you make a movie about a housing development, even one as really nice as Castle Hills? Think Dennis the Menace meets Hank Hill in twenty years. “Cooper & the Castle Hills Gang,” follows the quest of 11-year-old Cooper (played by Kyle Kirk, an actor), his three friends and the elderly Mr. Wilson (played by J.B. Edwards) as they canvass Castle Hills for something Mr. Wilson has lost, a wedding ring. The film has B grade actors, and according to the Wall Street Journal, really “focuses on its story rather than lingering on obvious marketing shots.” Nice.

Except ooops: WSJ said a hiccup comes when Cooper uses the term “mixed use urban center” in casual conversation. No, don’t think 11 year old talk like that. If he does, I want him as a blogger.

The movie will show Cooper at several of the more than 20 parks Castle Hills has to offer, along with the hike-and-bike trails, fishing lake, sports fields, community swimming and splash pools, and the outdoor Village Shops and Plaza.

Mr. Bright, 58, said he foresees the film helping his Bright Realty market Castle Hills’ commercial and residential land.

“Castle Hills was originally our family farm and holds childhood memories for the entire Bright family,” said Chris.

He may be onto something and find his phone ringing: the Saturday screening is sold out. Many second home developers are also taking to the movies, making docu-films of happy families enjoying life in their mountain, beach, or lakeside homes. I expect we’ll see lots more of this.

Castle Hills, which the family started developing in 1997, has 2,500 homes built, with another 600 planned. One third of its potential 1 million square feet of shops is built. An office-and-residential complex of more than 2 million square feet is in the planning.

“It’s a way of letting the community tell a little bit about itself through the residents and showing the community as a backdrop and not the focus,” Mr. Bright said.

There were several opportunities throughout filming for residents and neighbors to be part of the cast and crew, including a fireworks-filled re-enactment of the Castle Hills 4th of July event that calls for hundreds of extras. There will also be opportunities to help behind-the-scenes as a “PA for the day” (production assistant). To give you a taste of the flavor, a 1965 red Ford Mustang was called for as a prop.

PS: I have been to Castle Hills and love it. Chris Bright (who’s kind of a big kid at heart) took me on a personal tour in his 1960’s era auto, showing me each park he personally designed. His greatest wish, he said, was to give kiddos great places to play and create memories. It’s the closest thing to bubble living outside of the Dallas “bubble” I have ever seen, and I loved the multiple castle themes for kids. Dare I say, I even felt a bit as if I were in The Truman Show: life in Castle Hills can look that perfect at times.

And now, Hollywood!

Update: people have emailed me about Castle Hills, some saying a few homes in the area had foundation problems back when it was first built out. Here’s what I received from an agent who asked to remain anonymous: “There is a high concentration of clay soil in CH (along with a lot of other areas in Dallas) and there were some publicized issues with houses in one area back in the early days of the neighborhood. The cause of the foundation issues in that case was a ruptured water main that flooded the clay substrate and it was confined to one custom builder that has not been building in the area for many years. Builders have been working in this area for a decade now, and do full soil testing to determine what is necessary to prevent shifting. Regardless, I think you should advise readers to hire an independent soil engineer for an analysis. I will add there is clay substrate in many parts of Dallas south of LBJ, including the Marsh Lane area. Buyers need to do due diligence.”